The Forecasting of Framing

12 Aug

The Winkler project is well underway – we are finished with demo (sorry, no pics! It happened too quickly…I’m only one person! Is anyone really arguing with me?) and are framing the remodeled spaces. When reading an architectural drawing, it’s pretty easy to imagine building to those specifications. The challenges come when 2-dimensional drawings are actually brought into the 3-dimensional world. There are some brilliant technologies in the market and even more brilliant individuals designing for these technologies to create the most accurate drawings possible for building – call me old fashioned, I simply feel that the truth of construction cannot be told until it’s happening in the physical world…until that wall goes up, we cannot see the devil in the details.

For example, at Winkler we have this awkward space off the side of the Master Bedroom which is located above the 1st/2nd floor staircase and originally hovered at an angle over the 1st floor Dining Room. Once we replace the sliding doors with windows, we can no longer access this space (confused? Check out “Introducing The Winkler Project!“). Soooo, we decided to cut off the angle of the space to square off the Dining Room wall and build that space smaller so that we end up with a ledge above the Dining Room where my clients can put knick knacks, art, and/or foliage. Brilliant!

Looks pretty detailed, right? Who sees the problem?

…here, look once more…

Find it?

…Okay, who gives? I’ll tell you.

It’s that little closet wall! It is about a 1/2 inch inset from the ledge above. This means that, if we do nothing about it, the drywall will be finished and this little wall will randomly be 1/2 inch more shallow than the ledge above it. It also means that that beautiful skylight above the Dining Room will cast a shadow on that wall from the ledge above it. Lovely.

So now we have to build out that wall 1/2 inch. This means we also have to move the outlets out 1/2 inch and the doorbell out 1/2 inch.

Here’s the important part folks – this is no one’s fault. It. Just. Is. So, the point here is that no matter how good your team is, when you’re doing renovation, be prepared for the devil in the details. Particularly with Framing – your team has to be able to visualize what the final product will look like when drywall is finished. So, look at all your corners, edges, doorways, and angled lines, ALL staircase entries and ceilings. It’s a team effort. The last thing that you want to be saying when dancing in circles after drywall is completed is “oh.”